''The Hobbit'' (), full title ''The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit, Across the Wild Land, Through the Dark Forest, Beyond the Misty Mountains. There and Back Again'' is a 1985

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

television play A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television movi ...

for children. It is an adaptation of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

's 1937

children's fantasy Children's fantasy is children's literature with fantasy elements: fantasy intended for young readers. It may also mean fantasy read ''by'' children, regardless of the intended audience. The genre has roots in folk tales such as ''Aesop's Fables ...

novel ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

'' by Vladimir Latyshev. The play was shot in 1984 as a teleplay and produced in the framework of the children's TV series '' Tale after Tale'' (') and aired at the

Leningrad TV Channel 5TV is a television channel based in Moscow, Russia. Alexey Brodskiy serves as the director general, with Ljubov Sovershaeva serving as the general producer. History Channel 5 succeeded the nationwide Leningrad TV channel dating back to 1938, ...

in the 1980s and the 1990s.

Plot

The play follows Bilbo's journey with Thorin and the Dwarves (Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur), advised by

Gandalf Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a Wizards (Middle-earth), wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Company of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" fr ...

, to the

Lonely Mountain In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Lonely Mountain is a mountain northeast of Mirkwood. It is the location of the Dwarves' Kingdom under the Mountain and the town of Dale lies in a vale on its southern slopes. In ''The Lord of the Rings'', ...

to steal back the Dwarves treasure from the dragon

Smaug Smaug () is a dragon and the main antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', his treasure and the mountain he lives in being the goal of the quest. Powerful and fearsome, he invaded the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor 171 years prio ...

. On the way they meet the

Goblins A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous humanoid creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances dep ...

, the creature

Gollum Gollum is a Tolkien's monsters, monster with a distinctive style of speech in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth. He was introduced in the 1937 Fantasy (genre), fantasy novel ''The Hobbit'', and became important in its sequel, ' ...

, and the giant spiders of

Mirkwood Mirkwood is any of several great dark forests in novels by Sir Walter Scott and William Morris in the 19th century, and by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 20th century. The critic Tom Shippey explains that the name evoked the excitement of the wildness ...

. The plot omits the three

Trolls A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...

, the party's stay in

Rivendell Rivendell (') is a valley in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, representing both a homely place of sanctuary and a magical Elf (Middle-earth), Elvish otherworld. It is an important location in ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of ...

with

Elrond Elrond Half-elven is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Both of his parents, Eärendil and Elwing, were half-elven, having both Men and Elves as ancestors. He is the bearer of the elven-ring Vilya, the Ring ...

, their stay with

Beorn Beorn is a character created by J. R. R. Tolkien, and part of his Middle-earth legendarium. He appears in ''The Hobbit'' as a " skin-changer", a man who could assume the form of a great black bear. His descendants or kinsmen, a group of Men kn ...

, and their imprisonment by the Elvenking's Wood-Elves.

Production

The play featured

Zinovy Gerdt Zalman Afroimovich Khrapinovich (21 September 191618 November 1996), known by the pseudonym Zinovy Yefimovich Gerdt, was a Soviet and Russian actor. He was awarded the People's Artist of the USSR in 1990. Biography Early life and education Ger ...

as "the professor" (a narrator stand-in for Tolkien), as

Bilbo Baggins Bilbo Baggins (Westron: ''Bilba Labingi'') is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', a supporting character in ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the fictional narrator (along with Frodo Baggins) of m ...

Anatoly Ravikovich Anatoly Yuryevich Ravikovich (; December 24, 1936 – April 8, 2012) was a Soviet and Russian actor. He graduated from the Ostrovsky Leningrad Theatre Institute (later LGITMiK) in 1958, and started to work at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur drama thea ...

Thorin Oakenshield Thorin Oakenshield (Thorin II) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit''. Thorin is the leader of the Company of Dwarves who aim to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon. He is the son of Thráin II ...

and

Igor Dmitriev Igor Borisovich Dmitriev () (29 May 1927 – 26 January 2008) was a Soviet and Russian film and theatre actor who specialized in playing aristocratic characters in costume productions (e.g., Rosencrantz in Grigori Kozintsev's ''Hamlet''). Igor ...

and the

spiders were portrayed by puppets. Missing in this version are the trolls,

and the wood-elves. The

goblins A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous humanoid creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances dep ...

were human-like with little makeup, and were portrayed by dancers from the Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, as are the inhabitants of Lake Town.

Cast

The cast is as follows: *

– "The professor" (a narrator stand-in for

) * –

Ivan Krasko Ivan Krasko (real name Ján Botto, pseudonyms ''Bohdana J. Potokinová'', ''Ivan Krasko'', ''Janko Cigáň'', 12 July 1876 in Lukovištia (''Lukovistye'') – 3 March 1958 in Bratislava) was a Slovak poet, translator and representative of moder ...

–

* –

Kíli This article describes all named characters appearing in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 book ''The Hobbit''. Creatures as collectives are not included. Characters are categorized by race. Spelling and point of view are given as from ''The Hobbit''. H ...

* Mikhail Kuznetsov –

Fíli This article describes all named characters appearing in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 book ''The Hobbit''. Creatures as collectives are not included. Characters are categorized by race. Spelling and point of view are given as from ''The Hobbit''. H ...

* – Balin * Nikolai Gavrilov –

Dwalin This article describes all named characters appearing in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 book ''The Hobbit''. Creatures as collectives are not included. Characters are categorized by race. Spelling and point of view are given as from ''The Hobbit''. H ...

* Kirill Dateshidze – Dori * Vladimir Kozlov –

Nori Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine, usually made from species of the red algae genus ''Pyropia'', including ''P. yezoensis'' and ''Pyropia tenera, P. tenera''. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is generally made in ...

* – Ori * Yuri Zatravkin –

Glóin This article describes all named characters appearing in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 book ''The Hobbit''. Creatures as collectives are not included. Characters are categorized by race. Spelling and point of view are given as from ''The Hobbit''. H ...

* Vladimir Lelyotko – Óin * Mikhail Khrabrov –

Bofur This article describes all named characters appearing in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 book ''The Hobbit''. Creatures as collectives are not included. Characters are categorized by race. Spelling and point of view are given as from ''The Hobbit''. H ...

* Yuri Ovsyanko – Bifur * Alexander Isakov – Bombur * –

Bard the Bowman Bard the Bowman is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Hobbit''. A man of Lake-town and a descendant of the ancient Lords of Dale, Bard manages to kill Smaug the dragon, after which he becomes king of Dale. Tolkien created the character spec ...

* – dragon

* Vladimir Martianov – spider (voice) * Igor Muravyov – spider (voice) * – leader of the

* Leonard Sekirin – goblin * Alexander Slanksnis – goblin

Release

The film was first aired in 1985 at the

, and then repeatedly in the 1980s and the 1990s. It has appeared on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

, although the TV and DVD versions each contain material that the other does not. The timing of the versions differs by 50 seconds. No subtitles were included, but fan-made subtitles have since appeared. The film was released on the official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel of 5TV on Dec 9, 2014.

References

External links

*
Сказочное путешествие мистера Бильбо Беггинса Хоббита
' at Channel 5's